Creating Studio-Quality Sound at Home

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You can record studio-quality podcast audio from your home without professional equipment. This episode shares practical tips for eliminating reverb and creating an optimal recording environment.

• Check out this article at Aqousticfreq.com for DIY acoustic panels that can be made with mineral wool or fiberglass wrapped in breathable fabric.
• You can find all of the links to the soundproofing materials we use for our Buzzsprout Studio in this blog post!
• Buzzsprout's Magic Mastering can help enhance recordings in less-than-ideal conditions, check out this episode of Podcasting Q&A for more details, Level Up Your Audio with Magic Mastering.

If you have questions about setting up your home recording space, email us at [e-mail]. 

Have a topic or question we should address on a future episode? Text us or email the Buzzsprout Podcaster Success Team at [e-mail]

Keep podcasting!

Episode Transcript

Cara Pacetti (00:00):
Welcome to Podcasting Q&A brought to you by
the people at Buzzsprout.
I'm your host, cara Passetti,and I'm bringing you the best
tips and strategies to keep youpodcasting with confidence.
Today we're answering thequestion how can I have studio
quality audio from home withouta professional recording space?

(00:21):
I want to encourage you.
It is absolutely possible torecord a great sounding podcast
from your home.
Many podcasters do it.
It takes a little bit of workup front, but I'm going to go
through some tips in thisepisode to help you get set up,
and I'm going to explain one ofthe telling signs that will
allow your listeners to know youare not in a studio and how to

(00:44):
avoid it.
One of the most apparentindicators of a subpar podcast
is a roomy, reverberant sound.
This effect is called reverb.
So I want to start off.
What's reverb?
Simply put, reverb is a soundreflecting off of a surface.
Think about those old cartoonswhen you see a character walk

(01:06):
into the Grand Canyon and theyscream hello, hello, hello.
That is reverb, also known asan echo.
What's fascinating about theway our brains work is when your
brain hears reverb and theyhear that tail end of what
you're saying, dragging on andon.

(01:26):
It actually tells us how big ofa space you are speaking in.
So the brain hears the echo andrecognizes oh, that is a very
large empty void.
While that is a fascinatingbrain fact, that is not great
for podcasting, so reverb hasgot to go.
So now that we know what reverbis and why it matters, let's

(01:49):
talk about how we can prevent it.
First, you'll need to select aroom inside of your home that is
fairly small.
Larger rooms tend to allow fornoise to travel and you guessed
it bounce off of the surfacesinside of the room, creating
that reverberant sound.
Think about it this way If youwalked into an empty auditorium

(02:10):
and recorded your podcast, itwould sound very echoey and
hollow and your listeners wouldrecognize that you are in a
large space.
Some of the best rooms torecord in inside of your home
would be a home office, maybe asmaller spare bedroom.
So we want to avoid kitchens,living rooms, anything that is

(02:33):
hard to sound, treat and is avery open and large space.
Okay, hear me out, this mightsound crazy, but another great
option for a recording spaceinside of your home is actually
your closet.
A closet is a great spacebecause they tend to be fairly
small and typically there is alot of soft surfaces within a

(02:55):
closet.
You want to make sure it's notan empty closet because if it is
, those hard walls will allowthe sound to travel and you will
almost sound boxed in, so kindof the opposite of that big
auditorium feel.
So choose a closet that'spacked with clothes, snug
yourself in there, set up yourmic and your headphones and get

(03:16):
to work.
Pro tip on this if you decideto record inside of your closet,
we recommend it being a solopodcast and an audio-only
podcast.
It might look a little weird ifyou're trying to fit your guest
inside of a small closet andthe backdrop might not be the
best for video.
Once you've selected the roomyou want to record in, the next

(03:39):
step is to make sure that roomis sound treated.
I mentioned in the closet thatit's helpful if there's clothes
hanging in there, because thesoft surfaces help to deaden the
sound and cancel out thatreverberant noise that we're
trying to avoid.
Think of it this way whenabsorptive material is placed
between a sound source and areflective surface like a wall

(04:02):
or hard flooring, the sound hasto travel through that material,
bounce off of the hard surfaceand travel back through the
material in order to make itback to your microphone.
So that's what I mean by we aredeadening the sound so as soon
as it enters your mic, that'swhere it stops.
We don't want it bouncing allover the walls and then bouncing

(04:22):
back into your microphone.
When listeners are hearing acrisp, cut sound, it's a much
better listening experience andyour listeners are likely to
stay for the entirety of yourepisode because it's just easy
to listen to.
The best solution for treatingan untreated recording space is

(04:43):
honestly to fill it with stuff.
Start with the stuff that youhave around the house.
If you have a full bookshelf,if you have furniture, maybe a
rug, make sure you add blackoutcurtains.
All of those soft surfaces willhelp prevent that sound from
bouncing back into yourmicrophone.
So if you need to take a tipfrom your kiddos on creating a

(05:05):
pillow fort, this is actuallywhere it will really come in
handy for setting up yourrecording studio.
If you want to take it a stepfurther and actually create your
own acoustic paneling, you canframe fiberglass or mineral wood
and wrap it in a breathablefabric.
We've seen recommendations ofmaking the size about four by

(05:29):
two foot and making sure thatthe mineral wood or the
fiberglass is two inches thick,and then you would put these
panels on your wall and again,that will help to absorb that
sound.
Acousticfreakcom has a greatarticle that actually teaches
you how to build your ownacoustic panels.
If you are interested in that,I'm going to go ahead and link

(05:49):
their article in the show notes.
If what you're working with athome still isn't providing your
ideal audio quality and you'rejust not in the mood or have the
time to do a DIY project tocreate your own, I have some
recommendations for a moreprofessional soundproofing
option.
These include bass traps,pyramid acoustic foam, blackout

(06:09):
curtains, and these can rangeanywhere from about $60 upwards
of $200, depending on how bigyour space is and how much
paneling you will need to treatyour entire recording space.
We actually use bass traps andpyramid acoustic foam pieces in
our recording studio atBuzzsprout.
I'm going to link those below.

(06:32):
These soundproofing options canbe found on Amazon, so they
should be really easy to grabwhen you're ready.
So now that you've found theperfect room to record in, you
have filled it with all of yourstuff in order to treat it for
the best audio possible.
There's one more thing I wantyou to consider.
You will want to make sure therecording studio you've decided

(06:53):
to use has the ability to beundisturbed for the duration of
your recording.
Along with treating your room,it's also important to reduce
interruptions during yourrecording sessions.
This means you will need toschedule your recording times to
avoid interferences.
Take into consideration, if youare recording from a front room

(07:13):
with a window and the lawnservice is scheduled to come at
10 am, you want to make surethat either it is treated enough
where you can't hear thatoutside noise, or that you make
your schedule fit aroundinterruptions that could be
heard by your listeners.
You'll also want to make surethat the door can be locked or
that you can put up a sign thatsays do not disturb recording in

(07:37):
process, so that your familymembers know hey, we can't go in
there right now.
There's recording going on andyou want to avoid interruption.
If you are doing a remoterecording with a guest, you also
can share some of these tipswith them.
If you get on the video calland you can hear the echo in
their sound, or maybe you seethat they're in a big, wide,

(07:59):
open room say, hey, can you jumpoff and go log back on from
within your closet.
That might really help help.
They may look at you likeyou're crazy, but they may be
really grateful in the end thattheir audio quality is matching
your level and that you guysboth sound super professional.
In our last episode ofPodcasting Q&A, we mentioned a

(08:23):
feature that we offer here atBuzzsprout called Magic
Mastering.
If you are in a pinch and youare recording from somewhere
that just isn't an ideal studiosetup, I recommend giving Magic
Mastering a try.
I'll link to that episode inthe show notes and you can hear
a little bit more about how thatworks.
But try to get your recordingspace as ready as possible and

(08:43):
then let us help you with therest of it by running Magic
Mastering on your next upload.
I want this episode toencourage you to go ahead and
set up that recording space.
Don't let the idea that, sinceyou don't have a professional
studio to go to, that you can'tstart your podcast.
Like I said in the beginning,you absolutely can.

(09:06):
You can record an amazingsounding podcast right from your
home, and the more work you doin the beginning to set up a
great space, the less workyou'll have to do in post, and
so it will help to reduce theediting.
Go ahead and get that studioset up and then you will be good
to go.

(09:27):
If you have any questions aboutsetting up a home recording
space and you just want to getour opinion or maybe our
recommendation with yourspecific situation, please reach
out to the Podcaster SuccessTeam.
You can email us at support atbuzzsproutcom and we'd be happy
to help you and offer ideas orsolutions to get you set up with

(09:49):
a great studio so that you cango ahead and start recording
your episodes.
If you have any questions aboutyour podcast or podcasting in
general, click the send us atext link in the show notes.
I'd love to feature yourquestion on a future podcasting
Q&A episode.
Thank you so much for tuning intoday and be sure to join us

(10:10):
every Monday to kickstart yourweek.
Have a great week and, asalways, keep podcasting.